Since the
death of the rooster that my wife thought was harassing the hens with too much sex, the hens are not laying any more eggs. I assume they'll resume at some point -- they don't require a rooster to generate eggs, and usually it's light levels that most affect them on this point. Spring is here, so light levels are increasing; but the egg production, which was as high as 11 a day when the rooster was still about, has dropped to zero.
The irony of this amuses me, and I didn't need 11 eggs a day anyway. Still, I hope they'll get back to laying a reasonable number soon. Eggs are expensive, and a good source of protein.
Apparently your wife misinterpreted the squawking of the hens as unhappiness. No, no --- they were clucking with satisfaction. May I suggest that you name your next rooster "Stud".
ReplyDeleteActivity level also affects egg production. Our family ran a large(ish) cage laying hen operation on our farm when I was a kid. We always had cats in the hen houses both to control rodents and because the hens would react to the cats moving around. That encouraged them to eat, and therefore lay more eggs.
ReplyDeleteWell they’re definitely less active!
ReplyDeleteWhen they molt (usually with the change in season), egg production will be light for a few days. They don't always molt all at the same time, but it does happen once in a while.
ReplyDeleteAFTER creating man, God created woman and determined her mission, namely, that of being man’s companion, helpmeet and consolation … It is a mistake, therefore, to maintain that woman’s rights are the same as man’s. Women in war or parliament are outside their proper sphere and their position. There would be the desperation and ruin of society. Woman, created as man’s companion, must so remain under the power of love and affection, but always under his power. How mistaken, therefore, is that misguided feminism which seeks to correct God’s work. It is like a mechanic trying to correct the signs and movements of the universe. Scripture, and especially the three epistles of St. Paul, emphasizes woman’s dependence on man, her love and assistance, but not her slavery to him.”
ReplyDelete— Pope St. Pius X, 1909 address to a delegation of the Union of Italian Catholic Women